Children with Down syndrome exhibit unique learning characteristics that impact their educational progress. Despite this, research on effective reading interventions specifically tailored for this population remains limited. The present study aimed to find the best ways to teach teaching foundational reading skills to children with Down syndrome.…

In this experiment, we examined whether beginning readers benefit more from grapheme-phoneme decoding (GPD) than from whole-syllable decoding (WSD) instruction in learning to read and write words. Sixty Brazilian Portuguese-speaking first graders (M age = 6 years 1 month) who knew letter names but could not read or write words were randomly…

Purpose: Phonological awareness (PA), the awareness of sounds in spoken words, is strongly linked to reading outcomes. However, there is an ongoing debate regarding the effectiveness of PA instruction without including print (i.e. PA without exposure to words or letters). Specifically, is PA-only instruction just as effective in improving reading…

Many details in reading curricula (e.g., the order of materials) have analogs in laboratory studies of learning (e.g., blocking/interleaving). Principles of learning from cognitive science could be used to structure these materials to optimize learning, but they are not commonly applied. Recent work bridges this gap by "field testing"…

An insufficient number of studies investigated the criteria for Arabic letter teaching in schools. Teachers play an integral role in understanding Arabic letters among young children, as it is essential for acquiring reading in the Arabic language early in life. The criteria for teaching letters in a current study include ease of pronunciation,…

Purpose: The present meta-analysis sought to investigate the effects of phonemic awareness instruction provided to children suspected of having a reading disability. Method: Seven databases were systematically searched, and 1,643 unique manuscripts were reviewed for inclusion. Data were extracted from 138 included manuscripts to evaluate the use…

In early Finnish reading instruction, hyphens are used to denote syllable boundaries. However, this practice slows down reading already during the 1st grade. It has been hypothesized that hyphenation forces readers to rely more on phonology than orthography. Since hyphenation highlights the phonology of the word, it may facilitate reading during…

Purpose: This study was designed to assess the efficiency of a French version of "GraphoGame" (GG) against an equally engaging math intervention ("Fiete Math," FM) in a large school sample of children from socioeconomically disadvantaged neighborhoods in grade 1 (N = 921). Method: The intervention was implemented in two…

The purpose of the current study was to examine whether morphological awareness measured before children are taught to read (Kindergarten in Israel) predicts reading accuracy and fluency in the middle of first grade, at the very beginning of the process of learning to read pointed Hebrew -- a highly transparent orthography, and whether this…

The aim of this study is to examine how a structured intensive training period with a phonological multisensory reading training method, at the end of Grade 1, can develop pupils' ability to connect phonemes with the corresponding graphemes as well as their ability to decode. A total of 38 pupils in Grade 1 from four elementary schools…

This qualitative case study examined the contribution a year-long professional development in the science of reading had on 10 first-grade teachers' knowledge of how reading develops and their instructional practices. Data for this research study was collected through a longitudinal interview process, from pre- and post-knowledge inventory…

The majority of research on the relationship between phonological awareness and written language focuses on demonstrating the influence of the former on the latter. However, the aim of this study is to analyse the effects of an Early Years written language programme on phonological awareness. The sample comprises 56 Spanish children aged 5-7 who…

This document was created in response to a request from the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction to the Wisconsin Minnesota Comprehensive Center (WMCC) Region 10 to provide information on high-quality, qualitative studies about K-2 explicit, systematic phonics instruction. This document is intended to supplement the review document:…

This document was created in response to a request from the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction to the Wisconsin Minnesota Comprehensive Center (WMCC) Region 10 to provide information on high-quality, qualitative studies about explicit, systematic phonics instruction in grades K-2. It is meant for internal use by the Department of Public…

Technology-assisted instruction has potential for helping students improve their reading skills. In the current studies, "PowerPoint" software was used to supplement teacher-led reading instruction for elementary-aged students with disabilities who struggled with phoneme blending to read words. The effectiveness of the intervention was…